Microelectronics experiences since the early seventies a period of sustained run-away development. Researchers strive to keep up with and fulfill Moore's law by scaling transistors down thus cramming always more circuits, more computing power and more functions on a chip always smaller and faster. However, this More of Moore era is said to be coming to an end.
The past decades have seen a paradigm shift. Acknowledging the limitations of the scaling model for microelectronics, the emergence of novel technology drivers and appearance of new usage scenarios, e.g. low power, nomadism, health care and health monitoring, ..., researchers started exploring alternative technological paths. This defines the so-called More than Moore approach that departs from the one-technology-fits-all approach and aims at developing a plurality of diverse ad-hoc technologies and according interfacing solutions. MEMS (micromachining/microsystems) is one of these technologies that enables the development of novel transducers for always smarter systems.